The Demand
by McGonagall's Bola
Summary: She remembered the day she asked, er, demanded for Hermione to marry her very well, and the day itself, too.


Minerva McGonagall smiled as gentle snores came from the woman who had curled up in her lap. She had said that she wouldn't fall asleep, but Minerva had known that is exactly what would happen from the moment Hermione had laid her head down on her lap as she read her book, holding it up with one hand as she ran her fingers though Hermione's hair with the other. She looked so very beautiful and peaceful as she lay there.

Carefully, Minerva closed her book and laid it on the side table by the couch. As she pulled her hand back, she felt the jade stone in her ring dig into her pinky finger. Automatically, she reached for it with her other hand to adjust it and turn it right again so it wouldn't dig into her other finger anymore. As she did, she eyed her wedding band very carefully, and with a smile, she remembered the day Hermione had put the ring on her finger as if it only was yesterday. She remembered the day she had asked for Hermione to marry her vividly still, too.

Ever since the beginning of their relationship, Hermione had made it clear she wanted to get married, even though a family was not a must, at least not yet. They had not been together for long, perhaps half a year at that, when Hermione had begun to hint less subtly that she really wanted to get married. Minerva, being as perceptive as she was, had of course not missed these little hints, and she knew that they also hinted at Minerva having to be the one to ask. For weeks, she had looked for the right ring, and for weeks thereafter she had wondered what the right way to ask was, as she had wanted it to be special but not tacky or overdone. In the end, Minerva had asked Hermione in the least special way of all, even though Hermione always claimed that it was the most perfect way she could have done it.

They had been playing chess on a cold winter night before the hearth in Minerva's chambers one evening shortly before the Christmas holidays, drinking whiskey, when shortly after Hermione had put her check-mate and her thoughts had drifted off to the ring in the drawer of her desk rather than her next move, she had looked up and just said, "Marry me." It hadn't been a question in any way, rather a demand, to which Hermione had looked at her in shock, making her 'babble' on in a way that really was incredibly unlike her. "I've got a ring, but… I know that I'm not easy to live with, and I know that you could do much better than me and that I am not the only one who is aware of that. I am an incredibly lucky woman that you chose me to love above everyone else, and I will never truly see how or why. I know that you do above everything, though, so marry me. Will you marry me?"

Astounded, Hermione had just nodded before Minerva had stood and had moved over to her large desk to retrieve the ring she had hidden there weeks before. When she had showed it to Hermione, the brunette had been even more speechless, and, upon feeling the cold metal of the ring upon her finger and seeing it on her hand, the younger Gryffindor had burst in tears.

Minerva had, nonetheless, berated herself for quite a while about how it had happened, but Hermione had disagreed every single time Minerva said anything about it or it seemed as if she was thinking about it. For Hermione, it had been perfect. The fact that it had been so sudden and unprepared was, for Hermione, the best part.

She remembered the day they got married very well, too. Hermione had looked so very beautiful in her white dress, and Minerva had not been able to take her teal eyes off of her lady. Her curls had fallen beside her face nicely, as she had obviously done the effort to stop them from frizzing much like with the Yule Ball. She had been a woman on the day they got married, though.

As she ran her hands through Hermione's hair, she felt the immensity of her love, and it was hard to get that someone could love another so much, but the love between them was unbreakable and always would be.


End file.
